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Abstract:

A method is provided for visualizing communications in a social setting.
A graphical virtual social venue is provided. Users of one or more social
networks are invited to enter the venue and to participate in and share a
social experience. Users are graphically represented within the virtual
social venue and are able to communicate with each other. When users
communicate with each other, the communications are tracked and visually
represented in the virtual social venue with visual overlays. The visual
overlays signify communicatively active parts of the social venue while
keeping private the contents of the communication.

Claims:

1. A computer-implemented method for visualizing communications in a
social setting, the method comprising: providing a graphical virtual
social venue for sharing a social experience between users invited to
participate in the virtual social venue; enabling the invitation of users
of a social network to enter the virtual social venue; graphically
representing each user who enters the virtual social venue; enabling
communications between users within the social venue; tracking the
communications made by users within the social venue; and displaying
visual overlays within the social venue to represent communications to or
from users in the social venue, wherein the visual overlays signify a
communicatively active part of the social venue while keeping private the
contents of the communication.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the visual
overlays are non-textual overlays, the method further comprising:
graphically displaying a virtual three-dimensional structural
representation of the virtual social venue; and displaying the visual
overlays representative of communications to or from users in the social
venue in the graphical context of the virtual three-dimensional
structural representation of the virtual social venue.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the virtual structural representation
of the virtual social venue is a virtual three-dimensional representation
of a stadium, coliseum, arena, stage, theater, or other physical
structure providing a seating or standing area for seating or standing a
plurality of people in proximity to each other to view and/or listen to
streaming media content.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising: providing a
three-dimensional avatar for each user who enters the virtual social
venue; and graphically representing each user who enters the virtual
social venue within the virtual social venue using the user's
three-dimensional avatar.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:
enabling users within the social venue to migrate their avatars over to
communicatively active parts of the social venue.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the communications
comprise live voice communications to or from users within the social
venue.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:
enabling users within the social venue to migrate their avatars over to
communicatively active parts of the social venue; and making the
communications audible to users whose avatars are proximate to the
communicatively active part of the social venue.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the communications
comprise live text communications to or from users within the social
venue.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising
converting the text communications to audio and making the converted
audio communications audible to users proximate to a text-sending user.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein when two users within the social venue
communicate with each other, the visual overlay comprises a
representation of a stream or ribbon that connects or flows between the
users.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the stream or ribbon is of light.

12. The method of claim 4, further comprising displaying visual overlays
to represent all tracked intra-venue communications between users.

13. The method of claim 4, further comprising: enabling trans-venue
communications between users within the social venue and external
sources; and representing trans-venue communications with a vertical
stream or ribbon that drops down from outside the venue onto the user for
which the communication is intended.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting streaming media
content from a third party streaming media content provider to users in
the virtual social venue.

15. A computer-implemented method for visualizing communications in a
social setting, the method comprising: providing a virtual social venue
for sharing a social experience between users invited to participate in
the virtual social venue; graphically representing the virtual social
venue as a three-dimensional space; enabling the invitation of users of a
social network to enter the virtual social venue; graphically
representing each user who enters the virtual social venue within the
three-dimensional space representing the virtual social venue; enabling
communications to or from users within the social venue; tracking the
communications made by users within the social venue; and displaying
visual overlays within the social venue to represent communications to or
from users in the social venue, wherein the visual overlays signify a
communicatively active part of the social venue.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the visual
overlays are color-coded according to the type of digital communication
occurring in the social venue.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the
communications enabled include both: intra-venue chats between users
within the social venue; and trans-venue chats between a user within the
social venue and a party outside the social venue.

18. A social media platform for visualizing communications in a social
setting, the platform comprising: a virtual social venue comprising a
virtual three-dimensional representation of a stadium, coliseum, arena,
stage, theater, conference building, conference room, or other physical
structure providing a seating or standing area for seating or standing a
plurality of people in close proximity to each other; and an interface
with a third party social network to enable invitations of users to the
virtual social venue and to enable communications between users
participating in the virtual social venue; wherein users participating in
the virtual social venue are represented with three-dimensional avatars
within the virtual three-dimensional representation of the virtual social
venue; wherein communications between users within the social venue are
tracked and represented with visual overlays within the virtual
three-dimensional representation of the virtual social venue.

19. The social media platform of claim 18, wherein the visual overlays
comprise non-textual ribbons or streams that connect or flow between
communicating users.

20. The social media platform of claim 18, wherein the communications
between users are made within the third party social network but tracked
by the social media platform to enable the visual overlays.

Description:

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

[0001] This application claims the benefit of the following U.S.
Provisional Applications which are hereby incorporated by reference in
their entirety for all intents and purposes:

[0002] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 12/969,487, filed Dec. 15, 2010 entitled
"INCORPORATING MEDIA CONTENT INTO A 3D SOCIAL PLATFORM", assigned to a
common assignee, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by
reference in their entirety for all intents and purposes:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to a platform for providing social
networking services within a virtual venue to allow for interaction
between users with third-party media content, and more specifically to a
method for instantiating viewable media into a three-dimensional
platform.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004] People utilize computers to access or generate information, to
produce content, to communicate with others, to experience media (music,
television, movies, or other video), and to play games. However, multiple
users do not share most computer experiences, because they are isolated
from each other in terms of geography, chronology, or with respect to the
content that they access. Whatever activity a computer user experiences
is typically either asynchronous to other users (such as email, viewing
and posting within a social network service, etc.), or synchronous within
a closed environment (such as online gaming). Alternatively, the activity
is entirely personal, such as viewing a movie, watching a sporting event
via a web feed, or laughing at the latest YouTube® post.

[0005] The last few years have witnessed the rise of online social
networks to connect people with friends, acquaintances, and enable them
to share interests, pictures, videos, emails, and the like. A typical
online social network provides a representation of each user (often a
profile), his/her social links, and a variety of services, including
means for users to interact over the internet, such as e-mail and instant
messaging. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas,
activities, events, and interests within their individual networks.

[0006] However, such social networking sites are typically asynchronous.
That is, users access network services on their schedule, and review
activities, events and interests that have been previously posted by
other users within their network. And, if they add content or dialogue to
their network, other users will see such posting at a later time, when
they access the network.

[0007] By contrast, online gaming services connect people in a synchronous
fashion. That is, gamers go online and share a gaming experience with
each other at the same time. However, the form of the shared content is
predefined: the game that the users are playing. The online games are
closed systems, where the content that is experienced by the users is
predefined within the gaming environment. Moreover, the persons with whom
the content is shared is also closed and restricted to members involved
in the game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] A method is provided for visualizing communications in a social
setting. A graphical virtual social venue is provided. Users of one or
more social networks are invited to enter the venue and to participate in
and share a social experience. Users are graphically represented within
the virtual social venue and are able to communicate with each other.
When users communicate with each other, the communications are tracked
and visually represented in the virtual social venue with visual
overlays. The visual overlays signify communicatively active parts of the
social venue while keeping private the contents of the communication.

[0009] In one embodiment, the visual overlays comprise color-coded streams
or ribbons of light. For example, a linear stream or ribbon of blue light
is used to represent intra-venue communications. A linear stream or
ribbon of blue light connects the avatars of two users within the virtual
social venue that are communicating with each other. A vertical stream or
ribbon of red light is used to represent trans-venue communications. When
a user communicates with someone outside the venue, a vertical stream or
ribbon of red light dropping down from outside the venue onto the user is
used to represent the communication.

[0010] In another embodiment, the communications tracked in the virtual
social venue are communications made between users through their social
networks. For example, the communications may comprise posts or chats
between users of a social network. Alternatively, the communications may
comprise live voice communications to or from users within the social
venue.

[0011] In another embodiment, a virtual three-dimensional representation
is provided of the virtual social venue, in the form of a stadium,
coliseum, arena, stage, theater, or other large physical structure
providing a seating or standing area for seating or standing a plurality
of people in proximity to each other to view and/or listen to streaming
media content. Also, three dimensional avatars are provided to each user
who enters the virtual social venue to graphically represent the user
within the venue.

[0012] Users can also migrate their avatars over to communicatively active
parts of the social venue. In one embodiment, as users migrate over to
what the visual overlays show to be a communicatively active part of the
social venue, to the extent that the communications comprise live voice
communications, they gradually become audible to the migrating users as
they come into proximity with the communicating users. In another
embodiment, text communications from a text-sending user are converted to
audio and made audible to users proximate the text-sending user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013]FIG. 1 is a screenshot of one embodiment of a three-dimensional
virtual social venue with a plurality of viewing surfaces on which
extrinsically-sourced two-dimensional content is displayed.

[0014] FIGS. 2 and 3 are additional screenshots of groups of socially
interacting avatars in the virtual social venue of FIG. 1

[0015]FIG. 4 is a screenshot of one of the billboard displays in the
virtual social venue of FIG. 1, and illustrates the three-dimensional
transformation that is applied to two-dimensional media instantiated in
the virtual social venue.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a close-up, zoomed-in screenshot of the billboard display
of FIG. 1.

[0017]FIG. 6 is a screenshot of a web page that is external to the
virtual social venue of FIG. 1.

[0018]FIG. 7 is a screenshot of the web site of FIG. 6 instantiated into
the social venue.

[0019]FIG. 8 is a screenshot of another portion of the virtual social
venue of FIG. 1, depicting monitors that display merchandise for sale.

[0020]FIG. 9 is a screenshot of a point-of-sale web page that is launched
when a user selects one of the merchandise advertising monitors of FIG.
8.

[0021]FIG. 10 is a screenshot of a multi-sided jumbotron centered in the
virtual social venue of FIG. 1, one of whose viewing displays includes
links to a plurality of selectable video feeds.

[0022]FIG. 11 depicts a video service selected to feed the viewing
display of FIG. 10.

[0023] FIG. 12 is a screen shot of a web page containing a widget operable
to be instantiated onto a display within the 3D virtual social venue of
FIG. 1.

[0024]FIG. 13 is a screen shot of the widget of FIG. 12 instantiated onto
a display surface within the 3D virtual social venue of FIG. 1.

[0025]FIG. 14 is a screen shot of a virtual laser beam being pointed at a
display surface inside the 3D virtual social venue of FIG. 1.

[0026]FIG. 15 is a screen shot of a visual overlay of digital
communication to or from users within the virtual social venue of FIG. 1.

[0027] FIGS. 16A-C are screen shots illustrating avatars on whose heads
the users' profile images have been imported from the users' social
networks.

[0028] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a social media
platform for instantiating two-dimensional media content in a virtual
social venue.

[0029] FIG. 18 is a block diagram that illustrates one embodiment of a
social media platform that provides a virtual social venue including a
virtual three dimensional space for sharing two-dimensional media
content.

[0030] FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of a virtual social venue with
toolbars for inviting friends, identifying admitted friends, identifying
the virtual "disc jockey" of a social media event, and expressing
emotional responses.

[0032] FIG. 21 is a flowchart of one embodiment of a process of
integrating online social media events from one or more originating
social media platforms into a social media platform.

[0033] FIG. 22 is a block diagram of one embodiment of an architecture
that enables a user's emotive activity to be recorded and played back to
other users.

[0034] FIG. 23 is another functional block diagram of an embodiment of a
social media platform for implementing a virtual social venue.

[0035] FIG. 24 is a block diagram of user-related data maintained by one
embodiment of the social media platform.

[0036] FIG. 25 is a functional block diagram of one embodiment of a method
for instantiating two-dimensional media content in a three-dimensional
platform.

[0037] FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram of one embodiment of a method
for sharing two-dimensional media content with users from a social
network in a three-dimensional platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0038] The present invention is directed at taking all of the experiences
that are possible for a user on his/her computer, whether browsing
content, enjoying video, gaming, or obtaining information, and placing
such experiences on a platform that integrates the experiences within the
context of a social network.

[0039]FIG. 1 is a screenshot of one embodiment of a virtual social venue
100 for instantiating extrinsically-sourced media content. The virtual
social venue 100 comprises a virtual three-dimensional space--in the
illustrated case--a large stadium, for hosting a large gathering of
people. The virtual social venue 100 provides a plurality of virtual
screens, windows, or other viewing surfaces within the virtual
three-dimensional space on which to instantiate various streams of
extrinsically-sourced media content. FIG. 1 illustrates a plurality of
elevated billboards 101 installed between seating levels of the stadium
and large floor-level jumbotron video display 102 wrapping around a field
or stage. The billboards 101 and video display 102 are displaying various
streams of instantiated media content.

[0040]FIG. 2 illustrates the virtual social venue 100 populated with
representations of users admitted from one or more social networks, as
well as representations of artificial intelligence (AI) controlled
characters. In FIG. 2, the representations are in the form of
three-dimensional animated avatars. Representations may alternatively
take any form preferred by the user. In some embodiments, seats or
standing locations in the virtual social venue 100 are automatically and
intelligently assigned to cluster users together as they enter the venue.
In other embodiments, a moderator or host assigns seats or standing
locations to invited users. In yet other embodiments, seats or standing
locations are sold or auctioned based upon the relative desirability of
the seats. In yet further embodiments, users have the ability and
privilege to navigate through the virtual social venue 100 and migrate to
unoccupied seats or standing locations that the users select. A user can
change seats by double clicking on an empty seat, hitting keys to migrate
over to an empty seat, or requesting to sit near someone. In the
preferred embodiments, multiple avatars cannot occupy the same seat or
other spatial position within the virtual social venue, but a single
avatar (particularly an advertising avatar) may be able to occupy
multiple locations simultaneously.

[0041] The virtual social venue 100 enables users to express emotional
and/or social responses to the media content they are experiencing, as
well as to the activities going on in their virtual environment. The
virtual social venue 100 also enables users to interact with the other
avatars and participants. Examples of emotional responses and social
interactions include but are not limited to standing, waving, booing,
cheering, and clapping.

[0042]FIG. 2 depicts avatars reacting as a mob and individually. For
example, in the illustrated embodiment, all three avatars 103, 104 and
105 are standing on their feet and reacting to some event as a mob.
However, avatar 105 is reacting differently than avatars 103 and 104 at
the moment the screen shot was taken. These avatars also perform actions
responsive to the participants' controls or other actions or events
occurring within the virtual social venue 100. FIG. 3 depicts an example
of a mob of avatars 110 reacting to the participant's avatar 111.

[0043] Many different types of avatars are contemplated. Some of the
avatars are live avatars controlled by users admitted to and
participating in the virtual social venue 100. Other avatars are ghost
avatars--avatars that were previously controlled by users but that are
now programmed to replay the emotional reactions and animations with
which the users had previously caused them to act out. Yet other avatars
are artificial-intelligence controlled avatars that are programmed to
respond in a manner consistent with the live avatars and ghost avatars in
proximity to them. For example, if a live avatar expresses a positive
emotion, such as clapping, nearby AI avatars may express positive
reactions such as cheering or whistling. Likewise, if a live avatar
expresses a negative emotion, such as booing, nearby AI avatars may
express other negative reactions that are consistent with the live
avatar's booing. In this way, crowd dynamics are simulated within the
virtual social forum. In another embodiment, participants may enter and
control various AI avatars with which they come into contact.

[0044] FIGS. 2-3 illustrate social interactions taking place within a
virtual social venue embodied as a virtual structure, and more
particularly, as a stadium, coliseum or arena. Other embodiments of
virtual social venues include theaters, stages, conference buildings, and
other gathering places. In at least one embodiment, participants with
social connectivity can engage in collaborative social activities within
the virtual social venue. For example, participants can decide to watch a
particular video feed on a display screen in the virtual coliseum within
the virtual social venue. The video feed may be a movie, TV series, or
any other video content.

[0045] Based upon his or her seating or standing location within the
three-dimensional virtual social venue 100, each user has a unique
position and orientation--and corresponding perspective and field of
view--within the virtual three-dimensional space. When media content is
instantiated onto a viewing surface 101 or 102 within the
three-dimensional space, it is scaled, rotated to a yaw and pitch, and
depth-transformed consistent with the relative differences between the
user's position and orientation and the viewing surface's position and
orientation. This three-dimensional transformation is unique to each
user, so it is preferably managed by each user's own client-side hardware
resources.

[0046]FIG. 4 depicts an example of a video screen 121 within the virtual
social venue 100 that has been scaled, rotated and depth-transformed to
match a user's perspective. The same video or other media is also
streamed to other participants to watch, but scaled, rotated and
depth-transformed to match those participant's unique perspectives.

[0047] Each participant's view can be adjusted to zoom in and out of the
video screen 121 so that each participant can watch a full-screen version
of the video feed with other participants if desired. FIG. 5 depicts
zooming into a nearly full-screen version of the video screen 121.
Further zooming would transform the video screen 121 into a non-rotated
(fully orthogonal) full-screen view of the media content. Also, once the
participant zooms into the screen, additional content may be displayed,
such as content 511. Each participant can also zoom back out from a
full-screen view, enabling the participant to select the relative amount
of attention to distribute between the media content and the social
environment.

[0048] Each participant can also enlarge their default field of view by
zooming out far enough to see their own avatar and the surrounding
environment. By zooming out this way, the participant can gain a
bird's-eye view of the virtual social venue, and identify (and migrate
to) areas that appear to be more lively and active than others.

[0049] To enhance the social experience, audio content streamed into the
virtual social venue is mixed with ambient audio expressions (such as
shouting, booing, clapping, or real voice expressions) from the
participants. The audio content streamed into the virtual world may also
be mixed with attenuated sounds from other media content being
instantiated on nearby viewing surfaces. The audio is also preferably
streamed to each participant in a 3-D, surround-sound format, with
ambient sounds from surrounding sources being attenuated and delayed as a
function of the distance between the user's avatar and the source of the
sound. In one embodiment, zooming into a full-screen version of the video
screen 121 has the concomitant effect of attenuating ambient sounds
(until the ambient sounds are turned off) and making the media content
relatively louder. Zooming out has the opposite effect, increasing the
relative loudness of the ambient sounds. In other embodiments, the
ambient sounds one hears are limited to certain channels or groups of
friends.

[0050] Many different forms of media content may be instantiated into the
virtual social venue 100. In one embodiment, a fully-interactive web page
is instantiated on a viewing surface within the virtual social venue.
Interactivity with the webpage, however, is preferably limited to a host
who instantiates the web page or to a virtual disc jockey who is given
control over the media content. In other embodiments, described below, a
video stream or widget is instantiated onto the viewing surface.

[0051]FIG. 6 illustrates a screen shot 600 of a web browser that is
viewing media content on a computer display. The screen shot 600 includes
video content 602 being displayed from the YouTube® web site. A
browser plugin icon 604 is provided on the toolbar of the browser. After
video content is selected within the browser, a user with hosting
privileges for a virtual social venue can click on the browser plugin
icon 604. The plugin 604 causes whatever video is being presented within
the browser, to also be instantiated and played within the venue.
Alternatively, the plugin 604 causes the media content to be placed into
a queue for later presentation within the social venue, before streaming
the media content to the multiple users participating in the virtual
social venue.

[0052] Referring to FIG. 7, a screen shot 700 is provided depicting a
multi-sided jumbotron monitor 704 on which the video content 602 is
instantiated. Once the video content 602 is instantiated into the virtual
social venue 100, the media that is being played is not just viewed by
the user that caused the instantiation. Rather, every participant that is
within the virtual social venue 100, whether from the user's social
network, or otherwise within the venue, has the instantiated video
content 602 presented to them within the context of the venue, provided
that the viewing screen is within that participant's field of view. Thus,
the experience of observing the video content 602 is enjoyed by all
members of the venue.

[0053] In addition, the selection of the monitor 704 onto which to
instantiate a given media stream is customizable. That is, the video
content 602 could have been displayed on the monitor 706, or even one of
the remote monitors 708. The choice of location for displaying externally
instantiated video content 602 is definable by either the user who
selected the content, or by individual users within the virtual social
venue 100.

[0054] Additionally, each user within the venue 100 may select one or more
viewing spaces for the instantiated video content. For example, a first
user may wish to view the video content 602 on the jumbotron 704. A
second user may wish to view the content on the monitor 708. Mechanisms
are provided to allow users to move content between display areas, as
well as to queue instantiated content for later viewing. Additionally,
different users in a venue may be given different rolls: owner,
administrator, moderator, spectators and guests. Each of these user types
have different privileges and controls available to them for
instantiating or moving content from external sources.

[0055] In another embodiment, the browser plugin icon 604 may be used by
an owner, administrator or moderator, to queue up content for display in
a later venue. Thus, a user can surf the web in his/her browser, and when
they find desired content, can use the browser plugin 604 to add media
content to a queue, for later play. When the venue experience begins, the
content can then be placed into displays as desired.

[0056]FIG. 8 illustrates a screen shot 800 depicting another portion of
the virtual social venue 100. The venue 100 includes a plurality of
billboards 804. As described above, the billboards 804 are placeholders
for content, whether still pictures, data, or video. In addition, the
billboards 804 may feed content into the venue 100, either individually,
where each billboard 804 contains different content, or collectively,
where each billboard 804 contains the same content. Moreover, the content
within each billboard 804 may be populated and managed by any one of the
plurality of user types described above.

[0057] In one embodiment, the content within the billboards 804 may
contain advertisements that are related to the content that is being
viewed within the venue 100. For example, if the content that is being
experienced by the social group within the venue 100 is a video game,
billboards 804 may "advertise" similar video games, or pre-orders for
games not yet released. If the video content being experienced within the
venue 100 is a movie, billboards 804 may display trailers to movies that
are similar to that being viewed, or movies by the same director, or
having the same primary actors/actresses. The uses available for the
billboards 804 are not restricted, and may relate directly or indirectly
to the content being experienced within the venue 100.

[0058]FIG. 9 illustrates a screen shot 900 of an online merchant where
merchandise 902 advertised in the billboard 804 is shown. In one
embodiment, a user within the venue 100 that wants to purchase
merchandise that is advertised on the billboard 804 simply clicks on the
billboard 804. A browser is opened, either as an overlay within the venue
100, or on a screen outside the venue 100, that provides the user with an
opportunity to purchase the merchandise 902. In the illustration shown in
FIGS. 8 and 9, the merchandise is a video game. However, one skilled in
the art will appreciate that the merchandise could be any product that
may be purchased, whether video games, movies, clothing, jewelry,
electronics, etc. The types of products that may be linked to the
billboard 804 are not limited. The billboards 804 may be selected for the
purpose of linking the user to content outside of the venue 100, whether
related or unrelated to the viewing experience within the venue 100,
without interrupting or pausing the activities going on in the virtual
social venue 100.

[0059]FIG. 10 illustrates a screen shot 1000 of a display 1002 viewable
by users within the virtual social venue 100. In one embodiment, the
display 1002 displays a plurality of video feed possibilities 1004, for
instantiation into the video display 1002. As an example, video feeds
from Hulu®, Machinima.com® and YouTube® are shown, although
others are anticipated. Once a video feed 1004 is selected by a user (or
moderator of a viewing experience), the web site associated with the
video feed is presented within the display 1002.

[0060]FIG. 11 illustrates a screen shot 1100 of the display 1002 after
the video feed 1004 for Hulu® is selected. At this point, a user (or
video moderator) can select a video feed. Once the video feed is
selected, it begins playing on the display 1002 and is seen by the user
that selected the video feed. More importantly, the content on the
display 1002 is also viewable by everyone that is participating in the
social venue. Thus, thousands or even millions of participants in the
social venue experience the video feed that has been selected by the
user. In one embodiment, the video feed is private to the user who
selected the video feed. In another embodiment, the video feed is fed to
everyone within the social venue. Alternatively, an administrator or
moderator may select not only the video feed to be displayed, but also
the group or subgroup of users within the social venue that can see the
video feed.

[0061] In an additional embodiment, users that are selected, or otherwise
able to view the video feed, can choose to move the video feed to any
display, or the display of their choice, for experiencing the content. In
this manner, a user can select one or more video feeds for populating
displays within the social venue for the enjoyment of all or subgroups of
users.

[0062] FIG. 12 illustrates a screen shot 1200 of a widget 1202 that has
been created in a browser. In computer programming, a widget is an
applet, "window gadget" or mini application, typically created using
HTML, that forms an element or basic visual building block of a graphical
user interface. A widget runs within a container, which is provided by a
host program, or through a plugin. Like web pages, widgets are capable of
many different things, often performing tasks that would be tedious or
complicated for the user to access manually. Widgets can be as simple as
a mini program that displays the time of day, or monitors stock quotes
for selected companies, but may be more sophisticated, such as a mini
program that monitors a user's real time score for players in a fantasy
sporting league. For example, a widget might be designed to track betting
odds for two sports teams, during a game. The betting widget could then
be instantiated into a social venue that is playing the game, so that it
continuously updates the odds for the users who desire to see it.

[0063] In one embodiment, any widget that operable for use within an
internet browser can be instantiated into one or more displays within the
3D social venue environment of the present invention. FIG. 13 illustrates
a screen shot 1300 of a portion 1302 of the virtual social venue 100.
Within the portion 1302 is a display 1304 onto which the widget 1202 has
been instantiated. For each user viewing the instantiated widget 1202,
the display of the widget is spatially transformed to match the relative
positions and orientations of the viewing surface and user's avatar.

[0064] In one embodiment, a user (or venue moderator) can select one or
more of the displays within the venue for display of any widget they
desire. In addition, the user can selectively instantiate one or more
widgets onto displays that are public or private. A public display is one
that is visible to any user in the virtual social venue whose avatar has
an unobstructed view of the viewing surface. A private display is one
whose contents are individualized and exclusively visible to a single
user, group, or subset of users in the virtual social venue. Multiple
private widgets can be instantiated on a single private display, with
each private widget being exclusively visible to different users, groups,
or subsets of users within the virtual social venue.

[0065]FIG. 14 illustrates a screen shot 1400 depicting a portion of the
virtual social venue 100. A display is shown onto which a widget 1402 has
been instantiated (as described above with respect to FIG. 13). In
addition, a focused beam of light 1404 from a laser pointer is shown,
pointed at an area within the widget 1402. In one embodiment, the laser
is a user selectable tool provided within a platform providing the
virtual social venue, to allow a user to identify an area within the
venue to one or more users.

[0066] More specifically, a user can obtain a selection tool, such as a
laser (or flashlight, or crosshairs, or any of a plurality of
identifiers), and can then select a portion of the social venue for
identifying to other users a location that they are to examine. The
social media platform then superimposes a linear stream of light 1404 in
the virtual social venue from the user's avatar to the object the user
selects. The virtual social venue displays both the light stream 1404 and
the surface area within the virtual social venue illuminated by the light
stream 1404.

[0067] This enables users to direct the attention of other users within
the virtual social venue to a particular portion of the virtual social
venue. For example, if a group of users are looking for the avatar of a
friend that is among the users within the social venue, and one of the
users knows where the avatar is sitting, s/he can point to them using a
selection tool, and all of the users in the group can see where the user
is pointing.

[0068] As another example, a social venue may be set up for viewing a
painting, or photograph, or other piece of art to be examined by a group
of users. The instructor may zoom in to the painting, to a very granular,
or pixel level, and can use a selection tool to direct the users to pay
attention to a particular area that is being displayed. In one
embodiment, the instructor controls the zooming experience of the other
viewers. In another embodiment, each user individually controls the
degree of zooming that is displayed to that user.

[0069] In another embodiment, users are provided with the ability to not
only use a selection tool to call attention to a particular part of the
social venue, but also select the users (for example, just the users'
friends) to whom the selection tool is visible. In this manner, only
selected users can see the selection tool, but other users cannot.

[0070] In another embodiment, each user is represented as a
three-dimensional avatar having arms, hands, and a pointing finger, and
the selection tool is the pointing finger of a user's avatar. Of course,
many different types and uses of pointing devices are envisioned. What is
relevant is that a user can choose a selection tool and then use that
tool to call attention of other users within the social venue to a
particular portion of the social venue.

[0071]FIG. 15 illustrates a screen shot 1500 depicting a portion 1502 of
the virtual social venue 100. Streams 1504 have been overlaid onto the
social venue between users that are sending or receiving digital
communications in the venue. For example, just as users in a physical
venue may send or receive digital communication (texts, chats, emails,
voice communications, etc.), users within the social venue may have
similar forms of communication. In one embodiment, users can chat
directly with one or more other users, either within the social venue, or
to other users that are within their social network, but not a part of
the current social venue viewing experience.

[0072] To allow users within the social venue to obtain a visual
perspective of such communication, the present invention--preferably
using the application programming interfaces of any linked extrinsic
social networks--tracks the communications made by all users within the
social venue, and provides visual overlays of the communications. In one
embodiment, the communications comprise public posts or chat messages
made by users in and through their extrinsic social network. In another
embodiment, the communications comprise live voice communications between
users in the social venue. The social media platform then displays visual
overlays within the social venue to represent those communications to or
from users in the social venue.

[0073] In one embodiment, the visual overlays are non-textual and comprise
streams or ribbons of light. For example, if two users within the social
venue are chatting with each other, streams of blue light will flow
between the two users, depending on where they are sitting in the social
venue, representing texts that are sent or received between the users. In
addition, if a user receives a communication from someone in their social
network that is outside the social venue, a red stream will drop down
from outside the venue onto the user for which the communication is
intended. In this manner, the visual overlays can be used to identify
relatively more communicatively active parts of the social venue, while
keeping private the contents of the communication. Moreover, different
types of visual overlays are color-coded according to the type of digital
communication occurring in the social venue.

[0074] In another embodiment, the digital communication is delayed
briefly, so that the recipient does not actually receive the
communication until after the stream representing the communication
arrives. By observing streams of communications within the social venue,
a user can readily see which users are actively communicating, either by
receiving messages or sending them. Then users can migrate their avatars
over to communicatively active parts of the social venue and participate
in the action. Applicants envision any form of communication that can be
monitored by the platform providing the virtual social venue 100 may be
visually represented within the social venue in a graphical way.

[0075] In an alternative embodiment, text communications between users are
captured and converted into audio and streamed into the virtual social
venue so that they are audible to users proximate to a text-sending user.
This way, as users migrate over to a communicatively active part of the
virtual social forum, they also audibly experience the communicative
activity.

[0076] One embodiment of the present invention is also capable of
extracting profile images of users who enter the virtual social venue
from the social network(s) from which they are invited, and mapping the
profile images onto the avatars of the corresponding users. FIGS. 16A-16C
illustrate screen shots 1600-1604 depicting portions 1606 of a virtual
social venue 100 in which profile images 1610 have been mapped onto
users' avatars. The social media platform imports a graphical
representation for each user, from his or her social network (e.g.,
Facebook®), and overlays the graphical representation onto the user's
associated avatar. In this manner, a user's virtual avatar is made
personal to the user. The avatars are not simply objects which represent
each user. Rather, each avatar is made personal to each user by
overlaying on the avatar a user's own photograph or other graphical
representation. In this manner, users within the social venue may be
recognized, both by friends in their social network, as well as by others
within the social venue.

[0077] In a typical embodiment, when a user joins the social venue, their
graphical representation is imported from their social network, and
overlaid onto an avatar that represents the user. While it will often be
the case that a user's profile image will comprise a facial picture of
the user, the profile image may be any graphical representation selected
by the user. FIG. 16B illustrates a cartoon FIG. 1612 that one user
selected as his profile image. It will be appreciated that a user's
choice of graphical representation may be a picture of the user or any
arbitrary image that they would like to use to represent themselves
within their social network. For instance, a user may choose to
instantiate a thumbnail sketch or icon of a website or other virtual
social venue on their avatar.

[0078] The face of the avatar is just one of many surfaces that may be
overlaid with extrinsically-sourced content. Users may also purchase
apparel or body art to overlay other avatar surfaces. Also, the avatars
themselves may be customized. A cola vendor could purchase 1000 seats in
a football venue and choose cola cans or bottles or even animated cola
commercials as their avatars. The cola avatars would emote and be
influenced by the crowd.

[0079] In other embodiments, the invention enables users to designate
video feeds to be mapped onto their corresponding avatars. In one
embodiment, the video feed comprises streams of images captured from the
users' web cameras. In another embodiment, the video feeds comprise
streaming media content being shared in another virtual social venue.
Other users can zoom into the mapped video feed and be transported to the
other virtual social venue. In yet another embodiment, the video feeds
comprise a video feed designated by a URL. In yet another embodiment, the
video feeds comprise one or more advertisements. In yet another
embodiment, the video feeds comprise a collage of images extracted from
the users' one or more social networks.

[0080] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a server network embodiment of a
social media platform 1700 for instantiating two-dimensional media
content in a virtual social venue. The social media platform 1700
comprises a plurality of high speed port servers 1710, message queuing
servers 1720, a database cluster 1730, logic servers 1740, security
access servers 1750, proxy servers 1760, and web servers 1770. The social
media platform 1700 further comprises local logic servers 1745 running
through a web client 1780 and on a variety of client devices, including
desktop clients 1702, tablets 1704, smartphones 1706, laptops and
notebooks 1708, and any other processing device capable of accessing a
network.

[0081] When a client logs into the social media platform 1700, the client
communicates through port server 1710 to message queuing server 1720. The
message queuing server 1720 talks to the security access/server 1750 to
authenticate the login. Venue management is handled by logic servers
1740, through message queuing servers 1720, and local logic servers 1745
installed on each client device. Extrinsic two-dimensional media content
(such as video streams) are fed directly from the third party's URL
(e.g., Youtube) to clients. The remote logic server 1740 directs clients
in the virtual social venue to the URL. The clients, with their local
logic servers 1745, manage the extrinsic two-dimensional media content
themselves, including transforming the media to fit the structural
environment provided by the virtual social venue.

[0082] The client devices 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708 include a video display
for presenting the instantiated media, within the context of the virtual
social venue, to the user. The media may include video (movies,
television, web cams, games), audio, still images, web browser content
(web sites, web applications, widgets, computer data or applications), or
any other content that may be accessed for display. User control of the
client devices 1702, 1704, 1706, 1708 is achieved using input devices,
such as a keyboard, mouse, or any other type of device.

[0083] FIG. 18 is a block diagram that illustrates one embodiment of a
social media platform 1800 that provides a virtual social venue 1810
including a virtual three dimensional space 1820 for sharing
two-dimensional media content. The three dimensional space 1820 is
typically a virtual three-dimensional representation of a large physical
structure--such as a theater, stadium, coliseum, arena, stage, or
conference center. The virtual representation provides one or more common
seating or standing areas for an audience of virtual representations of
people (e.g., avatars 1850, 1851, etc.) to sit or stand in proximity to
one another. A three-dimensional graphics engine (not shown)--preferably
one suitable for generating graphics for a massively multiplayer online
game--is provided to generate the three-dimensional environment.

[0084] The shared two-dimensional media content is presented on one or
more viewing surfaces 1830 within the virtual three-dimensional space
1820. FIG. 18 illustrates a virtual theater screen in a moderately-sized
theater. FIGS. 1, 4, 7, 8, 10, and 13, by comparison, illustrate a
plurality of virtual billboards and jumbotron screens in a large stadium.
The shared two-dimensional media content may comprise a web page 1870, a
video stream 1872, a widget 1874, or other externally sourced
two-dimensional media content 1876.

[0085] When the shared two-dimensional media content comprises something
that is interactive, such as a webpage with links and text fields, the
social media platform 1800 enables a host user--or a user designated as a
virtual disc jockey--to interact with the shared media content. Those
interactions are displayed on the viewing surface 1830, along with the
shared media content, to both the host user or virtual disc jockey and
the other users admitted to the virtual social venue 1810. When the
shared two-dimensional media content consists of web page, the social
media platform 1800 is, in effect, instantiating a skinless web browser
onto the viewing surface 1830 and scaling it, rotating it, skewing it,
and otherwise three-dimensionally transforming it in a manner consistent
with each admitted user's unique position and orientation within the
virtual three-dimensional space 1820.

[0086] The virtual social venue 1810 is populated with users invited and
admitted from one or more extrinsic social networks 1860. Users admitted
to the social venue 1810 are either assigned a unique or exclusive
position (e.g., a seat 1840, 1841, etc., or a standing location as shown
in FIG. 2) within the social venue 1810, or they are permitted to
navigate and migrate through the social venue 1810 and select an
unoccupied position from which to share the media experience. In either
case, each user is provided with a unique position and orientation within
the virtual three-dimensional space to experience the shared
two-dimensional media content.

[0087] Each position and orientation within the virtual three-dimensional
space has a different field of view 1835. Accordingly, the social media
platform 1800 displays the shared two-dimensional media content to each
user with a yaw and pitch consistent with the differences between the
position and orientation provided to the user and the position and
orientation of the virtual screen, window, or other viewing surface. To
display the shared two-dimensional media content within this
three-dimensional context, the social media platform 1800
three-dimensionally transforms the shared two-dimensional media
content--often consisting of streaming video--in real time to each user
in a manner consistent with each user's unique relative position and
orientation.

[0088] FIG. 18 also illustrates the importation and mapping of other
extrinsic content into the virtual social venue 1810. In one embodiment,
profile pictures 1862 are imported from the one or more social networks
1860 and mapped onto the avatars 1850, 1851, etc., of admitted users. In
another embodiment, streaming facial images 1855 are imported from users'
web cams and mapped onto the corresponding avatars 1850, 1851, etc. As
noted in the embodiment associated with FIG. 15, text communications 1861
may also be detected and/or imported from the one or more social networks
1860 and represented within the virtual three-dimensional space.

[0089] In another embodiment, voice communications 1856 (or other audio
expressions of participating users) are imported from users' microphones
or web cams and reproduced in the virtual three-dimensional space 1820
for other participants to hear. Preferably, the reproduction of sounds is
done after filtering the audio expressions to cancel noises sourced from
the virtual social venue, including the shared media content. Also, the
audio expressions of surrounding participating users are reproduced for
each user in a surround-sound scheme correlated and consistent with the
relative spatial arrangement of the participating user with surrounding
participating users. When a user's avatar turns around within the virtual
social venue, the surround-sound is rotated to that user in a manner
correlated and consistent with the relative rotation of the participating
user's avatar within the virtual social venue. Also, consistent with the
three-dimensional environment, the audio expressions received by any
given recipient is attenuated and delayed as a function of the virtual
distance between the recipient's avatar and the producer's avatar.

[0090] In yet another embodiment, detected motion gestures 1857--such as
clapping and arm-waving--are imported from participating users' motion
detecting apparatuses (e.g., Microsoft's Kinect® device or another
third party gross motion, gesture, and/or emotion detecting device) and
imitated through animations of their avatars. In this embodiment, each
user who enters the virtual social venue 1810 is provided with a
three-dimensional animated avatar that can render any of a plurality of
emotional expressions with corresponding virtual physical gestures (e.g.,
jumping, arm-waving, cheering, booing, clapping).

[0091] FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of a virtual social venue 1910
with toolbars for inviting friends, identifying admitted friends,
identifying the virtual "disc jockey" of a social media event, and
expressing emotional responses. Typically, a virtual social venue 1910
will be populated with users who are friends, or friends of friends,
etc., of a host user. To participate in the virtual social venue 1910,
each user--including the host user--authorizes the social media platform
1800 to access information associated with the user's social network
account, including the identities of friends. The social media platform
1800 uses this information to populate a friend toolbar 1965 with
thumbnails 1962 of profile pictures of friends retrieved from a host
user's one or more social networks. The thumbnails 1962 are arranged by
alphabetical order of the corresponding friend's names. When a host user
hovers their selection tool (e.g., mouse pointer) over a thumbnail 1962,
the virtual social venue 1910 displays the corresponding friend's name. A
host user can invite friends to join the virtual social venue by
selecting the thumbnails 1962. Toolbar scroll arrows 1967 enable the host
user to scroll through the thumbnail images 1962.

[0092] The social media platform 1800 also populates a guest toolbar 1970
with thumbnails 1972 of the profile pictures of users who accept the
invitation and are admitted into the virtual social venue 1910. The
social media platform 1800 also populates a larger box 1975 with the
thumbnail image of the host user or virtual disc jockey--that is, the
user who is controlling which media content to display and share on the
viewing surface 1830. The social media platform 1800 also provides an
"emot" toolbar 1980 comprising selectable text or icons with which users
can indicate an emotional response (such as booing, clapping, or
laughing) to the shared media content.

[0093] FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating feature customization for
an avatar 2010 with multiple customizable features. As illustrated in
function block 2020, users are provided with the ability to select an
avatar 2010 and customize various avatar features, such as height, size,
hair style, etc. Users may purchase fashionable virtual clothing from an
avatar apparel store 2030 with which to clothe their avatar 2010. As
illustrated in function block 2040, users may navigate their avatars 2010
to a selected position and orientation within a virtual social venue, and
the avatar will animate in a manner (e.g., walking or turning) consistent
with those navigation movements. As illustrated in function block 2050,
users may also make their avatars 2010 gesture and express emotional
responses. As illustrated in function block 2060, the user's social
network profile picture may be mapped onto the avatar's face. And as
illustrated in function block 2070, the user's voice and text
communications may be represented by the avatar's facial and lip
movements or by other representations (such as streams of light or text
bubbles) in proximity to the avatar 2010.

[0094] FIG. 21 depicts one embodiment of a process 2100 of integrating
social media into a social media platform. Process 2100 begins with
granting access to a social venue within the social media platform to a
participant through an entry point (operation 2101). In one embodiment,
the entry point is a website dedicated to operating and managing the
social media platform. This website can be generated by a social media
module. Alternatively, the entry point can be a widget, banner, or other
link within, or external to, one or more originating platforms online
social media network with which the participant is associated. The
participants may be associated with multiple social media networks. The
entry point can be generated by a viral feature of the online social
network. For example, an invitation from the participant to a contact to
join in the social media platform can cause a link to be placed in the
contact's inbox. Once the contact clicks on this link, he or she is
granted access to the social venue within the social media platform.
Other viral features may be used as an entry point to the social media
platform such as newsfeeds and minifeeds generated within the originating
social media platforms.

[0095] Once a participant is granted access to the social media platform,
the participant's social graph having contacts information of the
participant is automatically ported into the platform so that the viral
features of the originating online social media network can be integrated
with the social media platform (operation 2103). At operation 2105, the
participant is prompted to invite one or more contacts from the
participant's social graph to join in the combined social media platform.
If any contacts accept the invitation, they become additional
participants (operation 2106) and the process repeats. Social media
events associated with the participants who joined in the MMOG can also
be streamed into the social venue from their respective originating
online social networks (operation 2107). These social media event streams
may be displayed in real-time while the participants are interacting with
the combined social media platform (operation 2109). In addition, the
type and quantity of social media event streams received by an individual
participant are user-configurable. The social media event streams may
also be turned off at any time by each participant. Additionally, the
social media events may be displayed on any display area within the
combined social media platform. For example, the social media events may
be displayed on a display screen or monitor, wall, billboard, blimp,
rocket, airplane, or fireworks display within the combined social media
platform, to name a few. This completes process 2100.

[0096] FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of an
environment 2200 for a social media platform. More specifically, a social
media platform 2206 is coupled to a network 2212. User devices 2210 are
also coupled to the network 2212, and access social venues 2204 via the
network 2212. When a user device logs into a social venue 2204, the
social media platform 2206 imports metadata associated with the user of
the user device 2210 from their profile in their social network 2202.
This allows the graphical representation described above with respect to
FIG. 16 to be displayed on the user's associated avatar.

[0097] As a user experiences content within their social venue 2204, they
can choose to react to the content in many ways. They can clap, cheer,
stand up, yell, boo, rate the video, etc. The social media platform 2206
records emotive activity of users over time during presentation of
content played within a social venue and stores their emotive activity in
an emot database 2208. The emotive activity correlates in time with the
video content that is presented within the social venue. Since the
emotive activity is recorded in sync with the content that is
experienced, it is possible to reconstruct emotive activity of a user.

[0098] With this in mind, ghost avatars may exist within social venues
2204. More specifically, if content has been presented in a social venue
2204, and users have had emotive activity during presentation of the
content, then the emotive activity is stored in the emot database 2208.
If at a later time, the content is presented to other users, then ghost
avatars from the previous viewing can appear within the social venue
2204, and their emotive activity can be presented alongside activity
expressed by live users. Thus, the experience of viewing content can be
cumulatively enhanced as more and more users view the content and their
emotive activity is recorded. For example, a user might be viewing
content with only a few other live users. However, the social venue 2204
may have been previously viewed by thousands of others. In one
embodiment, the cumulative emotive activity of all users that have viewed
the content may be replayed along with the content, thus enhancing the
overall viewing experience of the live users.

[0099] FIG. 23 is another functional block diagram of an embodiment of a
social media platform 2300 for implementing a virtual social venue. The
social media platform 2300 includes a three-dimensional graphics engine
2310 that generates the three-dimensional environment for the virtual
social venue. The social media platform 2300 also includes a virtual
representation of three-dimensional space--that is, a spatial
architecture 2330 for the virtual social venue. The social media platform
2300 also provides customizable avatar form and appearance templates
2340, enabling users to adopt an avatar with a form and appearance to
their liking.

[0100] The social media platform 2300 leverages the social relational data
and communications facilities of extrinsic social networks to populate
the virtual social venue and--in effect--to bring it to life. The social
media platform 2300 includes one or more data interfaces 2322 to
extrinsic social networks that use application programming interfaces
associated with those social networks to authenticate users and pass and
retrieve information (such as text communications and friend lists) to
and from those social networks. Communications between admitted users,
such as user texts or chats 2325, is preferably handled by the one or
more extrinsic social networks and then represented in the virtual social
venue in some form (such as text bubbles or streams of light).

[0101] The social media platform 2300 populates the virtual social venue
with users invited and admitted from one or more social networks 2320.
The social media platform 2300 includes a user list 2328 to track all of
the users admitted to the social venue. The social media platform 2300
also continually tracks user spatial data 2342, such as the position and
orientation of each user's avatar, as various users navigate and migrate
about the venue social venue.

[0102] The social media platform 2300 also leverages media content sourced
from extrinsic media providers. The social media platform 2300 includes a
browser plug-in interface 2360 enabling an interactive browser web page
2350 to be instantiated (with its interactive features maintained) onto a
viewing surface within the three-dimensional environment provided by the
virtual social venue. The social media platform 2300 also includes a
streaming media interface 2362 enabling streaming media content 2352 from
a third party streaming media provider to be instantiated within the
three-dimensional environment. The social media platform 2300 also
includes a widget interface 2364 enabling a widget 2354 to execute within
the three-dimensional environment.

[0103] The social media platform 2300 also includes a client user
interface 2344 for presenting the virtual social venue to a client and
receiving and responding to user navigation and control 2346. User
navigation and controls 2346 include commands related to the navigation
of a user's avatar, selection of friends to invite to the virtual social
venue, and emotional responses to the third party media content.

[0104] FIG. 24 is a block diagram 2400 of user-related data maintained by
one embodiment of the social media platform 2300. The social media
platform 2300 includes a user list 2410 identifying each user admitted to
or participating in a virtual social venue. The social media platform
2300 also includes, for each user, a basic user information record 2420
including fields for the user's unique id, profile name, and Boolean
flags indicating whether the user is active and/or logged in. The social
media platform 2300 also maintains a record 2430 identifying information
related to the location and spatial position of each user's avatar. This
includes an avatar ID, a venue ID, seat ID, authorization ID, X, Y, and Z
position, as well as the yaw, pitch, roll, and relative zoom extent of
the user's field of view.

[0105] FIG. 25 is a functional block diagram 2500 of one embodiment of a
method for instantiating two-dimensional media content in a
three-dimensional platform. Functional block 2510 provides a user
interface comprising a navigable three-dimensional space. Functional
block 2520 provides one or more virtual screens, windows, or other
viewing surfaces within the virtual three-dimensional space. Functional
block 2530 instantiates externally-sourced two-dimensional content onto
the virtual screens, windows, or other viewing surfaces. The
two-dimensional content may comprise a fully-interactive web page 2532, a
video stream 2534, a widget 2536, or some other content.

[0106] Functional block 2540 provides the user with a representation,
position and orientation within the virtual three-dimensional space. The
representation of the user is typically in the form of an avatar. The
avatar's position (e.g., a seat or standing location) may be
automatically determined, selected and assigned by the host, or the user
may be given the ability and privilege to navigate his/her avatar to a
user-selected position within the virtual three-dimensional space. The
user is also provided with the ability to rotate the avatar or the
avatar's head to a selected orientation within the virtual
three-dimensional space. The user is provided with a field of view
consistent with the selected position and orientation of the user's
avatar (or other representation) within the virtual three-dimensional
space.

[0107] Function block 2550 drives the externally-sourced two-dimensional
content directly from the third party provider to each user. The
two-dimensional content is spatially transformed (preferably using
rendering software installed on each user's machine) to fit the context
of the virtual three-dimensional space. This includes transforming the
two-dimensional content to a yaw and pitch consistent with the relative
orientations and positions of each user and viewing surface. If any
portion of the virtual screen, window, or other viewing surface is within
a user's field of view, that portion of the instantiated two-dimensional
media content will be displayed to that user.

[0108] Function block 2560 maintains any ability to interact with the
instantiated content within the three-dimensional environment. For
example, if a web page with text fields and links is instantiated on the
virtual screen, window, or other viewing surface, then the user is able
to interact with the instantiated web page from within the virtual
three-dimensional space. This includes enabling the user to type into the
text field and to select any link on the web page from within the virtual
three-dimensional space.

[0109] FIG. 26 is a functional block diagram 2600 of one embodiment of a
method for sharing two-dimensional media content with users from a social
network in a three-dimensional platform. Functional block 2610 provides a
virtual social venue comprising a navigable three-dimensional space. The
three-dimensional space typically includes a large physical structure
that provides one or more seating or standing areas for an audience of
virtual representations of people (e.g., avatars) to sit or stand in
proximity to one another.

[0110] Functional block 2620 provides the ability to invite users from the
social network to participate in the virtual social venue. This ability
may be limited to a single host user or extended to multiple hosts or
even to all users, until the social venue reaches its admittance
capacity. Functional block 2630 provides three-dimensional animated
avatars to admitted users and populates the seating or standing area with
the avatars.

[0111] Functional block 2630 provides one or more screens, billboards,
windows, or other viewing surfaces in the three-dimensional space on
which to instantiate the extrinsically-sourced two-dimensional media.
Functional block 2650 bequeaths a user with disc-jockey privileges over
typically just one of the screens, billboards, windows, or viewing
surfaces. A user with disc-jockey privileges controls and selects the
extrinsically-sourced two-dimensional media content to share with the
audience on the viewing surface the disc jockey controls. The disc jockey
can also interact with the instantiated media content from within the
virtual three-dimensional space. Typically, other viewing surfaces will
be occupied by advertisements related either to the content to be shown
or to one or more users' consumer interests.

[0112] Functional block 2660 spatially transforms the
extrinsically-sourced media to fit the perspective of each user's avatar.
As noted before, each avatar has a unique position and corresponding
field of view from within the virtual social venue. Functional block 2470
displays the extrinsically-sourced media while simultaneously displaying
the avatars of neighboring participating users to each of the
participating users. In other words, the virtual social venue and any
instantiated media content is displayed to each avatar from that avatar's
unique perspective and field of view. This includes transforming the
instantiated media content to a yaw and pitch consistent with the
relative orientations and positions of each user's avatar to the viewing
surface.

[0113] Functional block 2680 enables users to navigate about the
three-dimensional space, and to zoom the viewing surface into full view,
while adjusting the spatial display and three-dimensional transformations
accordingly. Simply by turning the scroll wheel of a mouse, a user can
zoom in from the default perspective that his/her avatar would have in
the virtual social venue to a view in which the instantiated media
content is full-screen and orthogonal (no longer three-dimensionally
transformed). By turning the scroll wheel of the mouse in the opposite
direction, the user can zoom back out, all the way from a full-screen
view back to the default perspective. In a preferred embodiment, the user
can continue to zoom out from the default position, giving the user a
view of not only the objects in front of the user's avatar, but also the
user's avatar itself and the surrounding context. These tools enhance the
user's control over and potential appreciation of the social experience
in sharing the instantiated media content.

[0114] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various
embodiments are implemented on computer hardware, software, firmware, and
combinations thereof. The teachings of this description can be adapted to
a variety of computer architectures. The various functions of the
illustrated embodiments are implemented through programs of instructions
stored in memory and configured to execute on various computer
processors.

[0115] Having thus described exemplary embodiments of the present
invention, it should be noted that the foregoing disclosure and
associated drawings are exemplary only, and that various other
alternatives, adaptations, and modifications may be made within the scope
of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not
limited to the specific embodiments illustrated herein, but is limited
only by the following claims.